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Monday • March 2, 1998
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1966
y«>|
aUI
1970
1974
Air conditioning
was added to G.
Rollie in 1967.
i
A women’s locker
room was added to
G. Rollie in 1973. A
lecture hall, storage
room and lockers in
the varsity locker
room completed the
additions for 1973.
Aggies won the SWC
championship in 1969.
paches, students remember Holler House
By Jeff Schmidt
Staff writer
■ Iter 44 years of service, G. Rollie White
liddeiik Coliseum will no longer be home to bas-
(iien's jLdctball. Beginning next season, the new
roc U-fena will house basketball and will be the
ij&fte future of Aggie Basketball. In G. Rollie,
|s co ms basketball team has compiled a 338-140
attc record and the women have a 179-97 (.647)
|locke» prior to this season. The coliseum will still
tur, ne to women’s volleyball and kinesiology stu-
llo will still attend class there.
Bit lollie opened its doors in 1954, when leg-
liu T college football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant
[hence athletic director. When it first opened, G.
.ico was considered “high-tech.” Originally, in a
|ese / of true Aggie essence, the coliseum was
i cot: to hold both basketball and rodeo. The coli-
[r C also had windows and no air conditioning.
ba ’ponent’s locker room was also substandard,
[stlake the flaws, G. Rollie was an intimidating
iviskphere.
[e th “It was the greatest place to play basketball
in the history of the world,” former
coach Shelby Metcalf said. “I don’t
know if the other coaches had the
same feeling about the place.”
Metcalf began as the head
coach in 1963 and led the
Aggies to the Southwest
Conference champi
onship and to the NCAA
Tournament. Metcalf
) | coached until halfway
I through the 1989-90 sea-
I son. Metcalf is the win-
■ ningest coach in SWC
history with an overall
record of 438-306. Metcalf
also owns SWC records for
total victories, league victo
ries (239), total games
coached (744) and most sea
sons coached (27). It was
Metcalf’s competitive teams that
brought the fans in and coined the
nickname “Holler House on the Brazos.”
ied'^f 6 won enough games there to be
Most coaches felt like it was a tough place to
11 n and play,” Metcalf said. “We were noisy,
was under control. It was a wholesome
there.”
calf is in part referring to incidents that hap-
while playing in Austin. University of Texas
ikin'
ns!
players used to grab Aggie basketball players and
hold them in the stands to keep them from return
ing to the court.
New gyms at Texas and Baylor gave the schools
a leg-up on recruiting. The new arena was long
overdue. Metcalf said he feels Reed Arena will help
improve Aggie basketball, which appears to be in a
state of apathy.
“It’s going to help you recruit. However, it still
takes a good team, yell leaders, students (to revive
interest in the basketball program). The new arena
is probably past time. Texas has got the jump on us
(with the Frank Erwin Center),” Metcalf said.
Metcalf’s most memorable moment in G. Rollie
came in 1975 when Aggie guard Mike Floyd hit “the
shot heard ‘round the conference.” The Aggies were
tied at 60 with Arkansas. The winner would be con
ference champion. Floyd drained a jumper at the
top of the key as the buzzer went off to give the
Aggies a 62-60 victory.
“It was a great play. We had the picture of the
shot framed and gave it to Mike,” Metcalf said.
In Metcalf’s 27 seasons, he only had three losing
seasons. After he got forced out during the 1989-90
season, A&M had their first losing season since
1977-78. A&M has only had one winning season—
1993-94—since Metcalf’s ousting.
Billy Pickard was a student at A&M when G. Rollie
opened in 1954 and will be here when it closes, only
as the associate athletic director for facilities.
“The day we moved in was my most memorable
moment,” Pickard said. “DeWare (Fieldhouse) was
an abomination. You had humidity in the basket
ball locker room. At the time we moved into G.
Rollie it was one of the best in the country.”
However, you will not seen any tears in Pickard's
eyes when the basketball teams move into Reed
Arena.
“I’m never sad of progress. I had an old Ford and
I couldn’t wait to get an automatic,” Pickard said.
“We have a gigantic advantage over our friends in
Austin.”
Current Oklahoma State Head Coach Eddie
Sutton remembers when G. Rollie was in its prime.
"The place was always full. It was one of the
toughest places a visiting team can play in,”
Sutton said.
“The program deserves better than this.
Hopefully, students will get behind the new coach.
I think it (Reed Arena) will help recruiting. I’m not
saying they’d have a better homecourt advantage
than G. Rollie, but this year they had no homecourt
advantage,” Sutton said.
Assistant Athletic Director for Student Services
John Thornton was a team captain for Metcalf dur
ing the 1974-75 season and even coached 12 games
in 1990. That team won the SWC title and but lost
in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Thornton also serves as the radio color commenta
tor for Aggie basketball games. The times that
stand out in his mind were the times he stepped
out onto the court before a game.
“My most memorable moment was coming out
onto the court with the team to a standing ova
tion to a packed house,” Thornton said. “That
made everything you endured worth it.”
Thornton played in the most highly
attended men’s basketball in A&M histo
ry: a 1974-75 game against Arkansas.
The game drew 8,608 people and
1,700 watched the game on closed
circuit at Rudder Auditorium. This
season, men’s games average
only 3,387 fans a game. The
women average significantly
less. The largest crowd this
season was against Kansas,
over Christmas break, when
6,548 people showed up.
Only one other game this
season was over 6,000—
Texas. Aside from those
games only one other
home game had more
than 3,000 fans.
“That kind of atmos
phere was phenome
nal,” Thornton said.
“Having Reed Arena
has already helped
recruiting, but if you
had the opportunity
to have recruits come
to a game (in G.
Rollie) when people
were enthusiastic,
they’d love it.
“It’s (no more bas
ketball at G. Rollie) a
mixed feeling. It’d be
sad for anybody that
had the experiences we
had as a player and a
coach. At the same time,
being close to the situa
tion, I’m really excited
about the future,”
Thornton said.
Please see Coaches on Page 10.
' - ■ . ' • '
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Illlllll
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iliseum home to more than basketball
Mean
n tlii
By April Towery
Staff writer
have^ Rollie White Coliseum has hosted many
L-JLspecial events from basketball games to
J graduations. However, there is another
|ts '“Jolly Rollie” that often gets overlooked. G.
[fort
sho»
has played host to several memorable
linment events as well.
nerous musical performers and entertainment
0 f icluding R.E.M., Three Dog Night, Clay Walker,
(I,; Buffett and the Harlem Globetrotters, have
tted crowds in G. Rollie.
cate
1( j|.980, Bob Hope gathered a group of Aggies
coliseum to promote his television special
“Bob Hope for President.” Hope, impressed by the
Texas A&M traditions, later attended a midnight
yell practice at Kyle Field in support of the
University.
Dan Quayle spoke to Aggies in 1992, in what would
be the largest rally of his political career.
The coliseum was designed to hold even more
events than it will ever see. The floor of the building is
removable, in order to accommodate rodeos, but now
it is too late. A rodeo has never been scheduled there.
Some students will always have memories of
pitching their tents and camping outside G. Rollie
in anticipation of football tickets. Others remem
ber sitting in the coliseum throughout the solemn
traditional ceremony of Aggie Muster. Former stu
dents hold fond memories of sit
ting in G. Rollie during one of the
most important moves of their
future — college graduation.
And plenty of students have enjoyed a
“jolly” time just seeing one of their favorite
musical performers or entertainment acts.
Almost every Aggie has a special memory
inside the four walls that hold G. Rollie White
Coliseum. Some memories bring a tear to the eye, but
almost all bring a smile to the face.
For 44 years, G. Rollie White has seen hugs and
heartache, laughter and tears. As the lights go out
on the last game, Aggies will miss G. Rollie White
Coliseum. Gig ’em.
Research by Jeff Webb
Design by Tiffany Inbody
1988
1992
1996
Tony Barone became A&M’s head basketball coach in 1991.
mmmm
SiF'
George Strait entertained Aggies
in 1988.
| i* |
The Ross Volunteers perform in the last
Muster ceremony in G. Rollie in 1997.